Waking Up
by Aurora Borealia
Summary: "When I'm around you, I feel like I am waking up from a long nightmare". Sometimes a romance just needs someone to give it a little wake up call before it can get off the ground. Oneshot, Harry/Draco slash. Rated T for mild swearing. For Elsyra.


**_Hello all! Wow, I can't believe I have never written a Potter fic before, but let me tell you I am thrilled for this to be the first one! A few days ago, one of my real life besties who I managed to convert to the world of fanfic a while ago PMed me with a request. She wanted me to write her a fic for her birthday, which is today (June 29th). She had only three requests: it had to be slash, it had to have chocolate chip cookies in it and it had to feature a dragon. _**

**_Well, I hope I have lived up to her expectations in this fic and I hope you all enjoy it too. So, happy birthday to you Elsyra! I demand that you have the most amazing birthday ever and I hope you have had a great day so far! I enjoyed writing this fic SO much and I am deeply honored and flattered that you requested I write one. I love you to bits, bestie! And now, without any further ado, this is my B-day fic to Elsyra:_**

Waking Up - A Harry Potter Fic

The week had been crazier than Harry expected, even for Hogwarts, a place where staircases moved and ghosts occasionally stole your paper (cough, Peeves, cough). The craziness was mostly, if not completely, due to the advent of the Triwizard Tournament. Harry had been quite looking forward to the tournament…that is, until he was somehow entered in it against his will. Now he just wanted to concentrate on _not_ being killed by a dragon in the tournament's first task. Hence, Divination homework hadn't been high on his list for a while and he was left doing it all the day before it was due.

"_Tealeaves reading exercise, fourth year students" _the paper read. If there was one good thing about reading tealeaves, it was that Harry could easily stick some doomsday predictions in his assignment that would touch Professor Trelawney dear, morbid little heart. The assignment's instructions called for the students to drink one cup of tea everyday for a week and record what they saw in the tealeaves when they were done. Harry barely had time to turn around before he had to run somewhere else, let alone have teatime everyday and record what he saw.

As Harry pulled his Tessomancy book out of his bag, he fished around slightly for a bag of crumbly chocolate chip cookies that Ron's mum had made for him on his birthday. It had been months since his birthday, but Mrs. Weasley had loaded he and Ron down with so many of her baked goods, that it had been this long until Harry finally made it to the cookies. The rush of sugar was the only thing that kept him going during the mad homework blitz he had been on since dinner.

It was with a pang of sadness that Harry looked into the bag and saw only a few cookies remained. He sighed and carefully pulled three out for himself before sealing the bag and giving it a toss to Hermione, who was sitting patiently on the floor.

"Well, that finally kicks the last of the cookies." Harry lamented as Hermione pulled out the last three and crunched on one of them slowly.

As Harry and Ron were currently not on speaking terms, Hermione had decided to wait up with Harry while he finished up his lessons, a duty Ron usually took. He knew that Hermione was more than disapproving of his procrastination, but she was kindly waving her disapproval to lend Harry a hand.

As Harry took the empty bag back from her, he noticed her yawn for the fifth or sixth time in the past ten minutes and checked his watch guiltily. It was quarter to two in the morning and Hermione had woken back up to help Harry after he had spoken with Sirius in the fireplace. He was so grateful to Hermione for her help, but he felt awful that she was losing her much need sleep for him.

"Hermione," he began gently, jarring Hermione out of a tired stupor, "I appreciate your help, but you look exhausted. Why don't you go to bed? I'm almost done here anyway."

Hermione looked grateful for the offer as she suppressed another yawn with the back of her hand, but her eyes flashed wide with concern for Harry.

"Harry, are you sure?" she pressed, "I mean, are you sure you're alright?'

"Yeah, I'm fine here. Just because I won't sleep tonight doesn't mean you don't have to." he said, smiling.

Hermione returned the smile and pulled herself to her feet.

"Goodnight, Harry." she said, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder on her way up the stairs.

"Night, Hermione." he responded.

Up in dormitory, the door closed as Hermione entered to get changed for bed and Harry was alone in the common room with his thoughts. He couldn't even put into words how much he didn't want to complete the assignment that stretched out before him, but either way he would have been up all night; just that evening he had found out from Hagrid just what the first task was and it did a number on his nerves.

"_Alright," _Harry thought as he fought to get his mind on the assignment, his quill scraping over the paper in a great rush, _"The first cup had a club and a cross in it…sure, let's go with that. That means there will be an attack soon that will cause suffering. Isn't that kinda obvious that an attack will cause suffering? Oh, who cares! It's good enough for the assignment. Now the second cup…"_

Harry was so absorbed in rushing through the homework, that he didn't notice when another student came sauntering into the common room from the hallway. It was only when a small plastic bag thudded down on top of his papers that he realized he wasn't alone and it scared the living hell out of him.

"What the bloody…?" Harry was about to give a stern, pubescent rant to whatever little first year was interrupting his studies when he looked up and gave himself even more of a fright than when he had been jarred out of his thoughts.

Standing above Harry, with his palm still outstretched from dropping the small bag on Harry's work surface, was none other than Draco Malfoy in a long black coat, his blonde hair still slicked back even at two in the morning. At the sight of the cheeky Slytherin in his common room, Harry's heart began to race in a strange mixture of hate and another emotion he could not identify as well as the first one, but was just as strong as it if not stronger.

"Malfoy, what are you do-?" he began to demand of the other boy, when Draco cut him off with a harsh whisper.

"Oh, stow it, Potter!" he hissed, sliding into the seat opposite Harry, "Keep it up and you'll wake up everyone in the dormitories."

"Um, maybe you haven't noticed, but you're kind of in my common room. You know, the _Gryffindor_ common room!"

"Calm the hell down." Malfoy barked, "You're password is the easiest thing to get a hold of. I just bribed a first year and waited until your common room cleared out. It wasn't exactly rocket science."

"Well, what do you want?" Harry demanded impatiently. Malfoy's sudden appearance was keeping him from his assignment…which reminded him, "And what the hell are these?" he added, holding up the plastic bag.

"Heard you needed cookies," Malfoy said with a cheeky smile, "just happened to have some."

Harry eyed Malfoy suspiciously and picked up the bag, staring at it slowly.

"These are poisoned, aren't they?" Harry asked.

Malfoy let out a small laugh and reached forward, taking one of the cookies out of the bag.

"They aren't, I swear." he said, popping one in his mouth, "See?"

"Alright, fine." There was something in the back of Harry's head that was making him _trust _Malfoy.

He had no idea why he should trust Malfoy or why he currently was, but if Malfoy wanted to torment Harry, he could have just waited until tomorrow; he didn't have to go to the measures he had taken to get in the common room. Something told Harry there was a different motive behind this visit.

"But that still doesn't answer why you're here." Harry pressed on, his impatience building as he took the bag back from Draco and set it on the table.

The blonde's face suddenly took on a different look and he didn't look so cheekily jovial. His features became serious and almost…nervous? It was a look that Harry hadn't seen on Malfoy since first year when they were sent into the Dark Forest for detention.

"Look, Potter. I'd never live this down, so don't go blabbing, but I have something important I need to tell you. But not here. Get a jacket and meet me back down here in five minutes. Oh, and grab your broomstick."

Harry stared at Malfoy in confusion for several seconds before going up to the dormitory. He grabbed his jacket quickly and began to bundle up to avoid the harsh November chill. As he slipped on a pair of gloves and grabbed his Firebolt, he tried to figure out what Malfoy wanted to tell him. Surely he didn't have any information on the tournament, as if Malfoy cared for his well-being.

He thought suspiciously that maybe this was just Malfoy's way of getting rid of him…but then again, it just didn't seem like Draco to go to all the effort. Just in case, however, Harry grabbed his wand and slipped it into the pocket of his jeans as he finished changing out of his pajamas and into normal clothes. As he closed his trunk, Harry debated grabbing his invisibility cloak to take, but decided against it. He was trusting Malfoy in this instance, but he wasn't going to trust him _that _much.

As quietly as possible, Harry crept back down the stairs to the common room. Malfoy was standing with his back against the wall, pulling a scarf out of his pocket and knotting it around his neck. He looked up as Harry dismounted the staircase and rolled his eyes.

"Christ, Potter. What took you so long? Are you finally ready?"

Harry rolled his eyes at Malfoy's tone, but couldn't help but smirk at the impatience. He began to nod and step forward when he turned back to the table.

"Oh, damn it. This assignment…" his voice trailed off.

However, Malfoy just waved his hand as if to dismiss it, his ring gleaming in the firelight as he stepped forward and pulled out his wand.

"Oh, that? Here, hold these." he handed Harry the plastic bag he had brought with him and raised his wand in a silent spell.

Slowly but surely Harry's quill raised itself from the desk, dipped itself into the small inkwell nearby and began to scratch across the paper carefully.

"There." Malfoy said, looking proud of himself, "Don't mind having one of your cups predict you are going to be castrated by a Blast-Ended Skrewt, do you? Didn't think so."

Harry was about to protest when Malfoy began to push him through the portrait hole, so he just shook his head with a slight smile.

Once the two boys were out in the hallway, the portrait containing the Fat Lady swung closed, concealing the common room entrance once more. Usually at this hour, the Fat Lady would have been snoozing in her picture, but Harry noticed in surprise that she was awake and bright-eyed, as though she had been waiting for Draco to reemerge. Even more surprisingly, as Harry stood gawking at the Fat Lady, Draco reached down and grabbed Harry briskly around the wrist and began to pull him towards the landing at the top of one of the staircases.

"Good luck, dear!" the Fat Lady said with a smile as Harry and Draco walked by.

Malfoy gave her a quick nod of appreciation before hurrying up the stairs, and once again Harry couldn't help but wondering what the bloody hell was going on.

Malfoy dragged Harry to the top of the closest staircase just in time before it changed over. Once on the landing, he let go of Harry's wrist and dusted his jacket off casually before straightening back up to look around.

"Malfoy!" Harry hissed irately, "We're going to get caught! What are we doing out here?"

"We're not going to get caught." Malfoy insisted, "You have your ways of getting out of the castle and I have mine."

As Malfoy turned his back, Harry's pulse began to quicken once again. He hoped that Malfoy was just taking a stab in the dark and didn't actually have a real inkling on exactly how Harry got out of the castle without being seen.

Harry was jolted out of his thoughts as Malfoy, who had been feeling across the stones on the wall, seemed to find the one he was searching for and pressed against it. Slowly and silently, the stone flipped around to reveal a wall sconce, complete with waxy, half-melted candles. When the wall halted in its reversal, Malfoy grabbed onto the sconce and pulled down until there was dull click behind the wall.

A few inches to Harry's left, a passageway opened that was a few feet taller than he and Malfoy. Malfoy stepped to the entrance of the gaping passage and snapped his fingers, the sound shockingly loud as it reverberated down the empty chamber. At the sound, candles all the way down the chamber's wall sprang to life, casting a dull, eerie glow that was barely enough to see by.

Harry stood for several seconds, gaping once again as he looked down the tunnel. Malfoy stepped in front of him and grabbed his wrist for a second time to pull him forward.

"Come on, Potter. Walking abreast is not a luxury we get in this passageway."

For several moments, the two boys walked along silently down the dim tunnel, Malfoy leading Harry along by the wrist. It was only when Harry could feel cool air that he realized they were almost near the end of the tunnel and his questions came bolting out.

"Malfoy, where are we going? Where on Earth does this tunnel lead?"

Malfoy let go of Harry's wrist abruptly and began to pry aside a large stone that separated the outside world and the tunnel. As the stone slide aside and the cool breeze hit Harry in the face, suddenly one thing made sense: the broomstick.

"To the Quidditch Pitch." Malfoy said, smiling.

The Quidditch Pitch was one of those few places where Harry could feel free. Most of Hogwarts made him feel that way, but the Pitch especially so. When he was flying, Harry could truly feel on top of the world and forget that there were things out in the world waiting to trouble him.

As he stepped forward out of the tunnel, Harry inhaled the smell of the leaves and rain on the cool breeze. Somewhere he could also smell smoke, probably from the warm fire Hagrid undoubtedly had going within his hut. He let the scent creep slowly into his nose and prickle his skin pleasantly. As he stood in the cool air and smiled, Malfoy stepped forward, a smile gracing his normally sharp features.

"I knew you would be able to appreciate it." he said, all the regular coldness gone from his voice, "Sometimes I think you are the only other one who can."

The two boys paused awkwardly, inhaling the scent, smiling at each other briefly before looking back towards the Pitch past the trees and beginning to walk forward. They had just broken through the line of the trees and were heading towards the three rings when suddenly the cold sky cracked with an ominous roar and lit up hotly.

Both Harry and Draco's gaze shot upwards to the sound and Harry's eyes became wide with disbelief. Above the trees on the other side of the Pitch, two of the tournament dragons were soaring through the sky, their chains still tethered to the ground and their great, scaly necks straining against the harnesses.

"No! You-you can't know about this. _I'm_ not suppose to know about this!" he said frantically as he stared up at the beasts.

"Calm down." Malfoy said, his face once again cracking into that cheeky smile, "I know about the Dragon Challenge already…and I know you know. Every night after one in the morning the trainers let them fly, usually only two at a time, to avoid attracting attention. They never take them off the tether, just let them fly a bit. They'll leave us alone. Grab your broom and follow."

Malfoy strode forward a few steps before pulling out his wand.

"_Accio, Nimbus 2001_"he murmured quietly and in a few heartbeats his broom came to him from a few meters towards the trees.

In one fluid motion, he mounted the broom and took off towards the center ring. As he rose, he looked over his shoulder at Harry, flaring his eyelids in a mocking gesture as if he was daring Harry to follow.

"What are you-?" Harry began, but Malfoy gained speed on his broom before Harry could press the question any further.

"Damn it…" Harry muttered under his breath, his only choice to follow.

By the time Harry made it to the center ring, Malfoy had carefully slid off his broom and was sitting in the center ring, his legs straddling the sides. Harry did the same as gingerly as possible, situating himself across from Malfoy and turning to face him. For any other witch or wizard it would have been nearly impossible to balance at such a height, but for two experienced Seekers it was child's play.

"Brilliant…" Harry said, looking up into the cold sky.

The stars above looked almost frozen, disturbed only by the rippling heat of the two dragons on the Pitch's far side. He wanted to make a coy comment to ease the mood, but it died on his lips. Instead, he just handed the bag of cookies back to Malfoy, which he had been saving in his back pocket all the time since they had left the common room.

Malfoy took the bag with one hand, while balancing the other on the cold metal of the ring. He leaned back as he opened the bag, carefully to steady himself and took one of the cookies out slowly.

"Chocolate chip," he said with a slight laugh, "it's the only Muggle thing my mum knows how to make!"

"Your mum?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow playfully. Somehow he felt all the evening's tension drain from him slowly.

"Alright! It's the only Muggle thing the _servants_ know how to make. Happy?" Malfoy conceded with a smirk.

"That's more like it."

Harry smiled, but before too long the conversation dissolved back into a silent awkward tension.

"Potter," Malfoy began shakily, still facing Harry, "you have no idea how much what I am about to say would ruin me if I admitted it to anyone else. My dad would kick my ass. Hell, even my mum and my aunt and all of our friends would kill me. But…it's too important and I've not said anything for too long. I hate not saying anything."

The pained, distant look that conquered Malfoy's eyes showed Harry for the first time what it was like to be Draco Malfoy. For the first time he imagined what Draco must go through with a father like Lucius and the expectations such a man would force his child to meet. In all the years he had known Draco, Harry had never though that maybe what he saw at school was not the real Draco, but was the exterior that Lucius had forced him to build up in order to be what the Malfoys expected their son to be. He felt sorry.

"Potter…Harry…" Draco labored to say, the name being completely new for him to use, "I wanted to tell you this before the First Task in case…well, in case, God forbid, something happens and I never get the chance. Over the next few days, I'm going to have to be particularly terrible to you and I just want to let you know that it's all a façade. I _need _you in my life, Harry. I feel different when I'm around you. You're the only reason I bother coming back to this school. When I'm around you, I feel like I am waking up from a long nightmare. I've never felt like this about anyone and I need you to be mine for this one moment."

Harry's heart felt as though it would explode.

"Draco, I-" he began, but Draco leaned forward and cut him off.

"Sh…don't speak. I may never get to do this again."

Draco carefully maneuvered forward on the ring and situated his hand behind Harry's head. His lips parted slowly as he leaned in and kissed Harry gently on the lips. In a rush, suddenly every feeling that Harry had been holding back all his life rushed forward from his chest. He closed his eyes and let his left hand steady him as his right one relocated to Draco's right cheek. Nothing mattered at all to him in the moment except teaching himself how to breathe again.

After a few moments, Draco pulled away and studied Harry silently. Drawing air into his nose, Harry allowed his eyes to open again slowly.

"Interesting…" was all he managed to say, "That's not how I pictured my first kiss at all."

Draco's eyes immediately clouded in a mixture of shock and hurt.

"Oh." he murmured shakily.

"No, I just mean that all those times in my head when I pictured kissing you for the first time, I imagined candles and something romantic, not dragons. But, now that it's happened this way, I wouldn't trade it for the world."

This time it was Harry's turn to smile cheekily as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Draco's neck. As Harry's lips came in contact with Draco's skin, he could feel Draco's whole body relax in relief as he let out a happy laugh. It was the most sincere laugh he had ever heard from Draco and despite not looking at him, Harry could feel him smile.

"Harry…I'm going to have to get used to saying that." Draco said with a smile as he took Harry's hand and placed it in his own.

He and Harry had adjusted their position on the ring and were now facing the far side of the Pitch where the other rings stood, watching the dragons overhead tumble with each other, their breath turning the sky into a filmy screen of heat. Between the two of them was the bag of cookies, which Draco had taken great joy in when he was popping them in Harry's mouth.

"We'll get there eventually." Harry said, curling his finger through Draco's.

Above the Pitch, the two dragons (Harry had no idea what breed they were, nor did he particularly care) dived after one another, the red one sending a wave of fire after the black spiked one. To Harry's right, Draco flinched.

"Dear God, it looks they're about to kill each other!" he said, pulling himself up into his previous position again.

"Nah," Harry said, watching the dragons roll over again, "they're play fighting each other, it just looks awful. They're kinda like you and I."

He smiled and looked to Draco, who returned the smile as he leaned in and kissed Harry once more.

"I know, and I can't believe it took me so damn long to tell you." Draco said, pulling back, "I really do love you though, Harry."

"I've always loved you, Draco. It just took a night like this to get me to admit it. I'd admitted it to myself long ago, but someone just had to wake me up for me to say it out loud. I'm glad you were the one."

For a few minutes the boys, watched the show above them in silence.

"It looks like Muggle fireworks." Harry mused as the fireballs shot into each other and lit up the sky with colors and heat.

"This is what magic is all about." Draco replied silently.

"Draco…" Harry turned to face the blonde, "I am afraid about one thing with you and I."

Draco cocked his head, "What is it, my love?"

"I've been pretending to hate you for so long, I'm worried I won't be able to stop." Harry said, smiling gently although the matter was serious.

"Don't fret." Draco said as he patted the other boy's hand, "I've wonder about that too. I'm sure it will be a difficult process to transition between the two worlds, but we're both still learning how to do this. We'll get there together, just you wait."

Sitting in the cold air of the early morning, Draco and Harry just smiled at each other as they craned their necks to better glimpse the beasts. There were things to be worried about out there, but they could worry later. They were content for the first time.

**_Happy birthday, Elsyra! I hope you enjoyed that bit of Drarry goodness. I also hope this fic was even a fraction as amazing as you are! Thanks for all you do for me and I hope this has made your day a little brighter! Happiest of happy birthdays to you! Much love - AB_**


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